Museum Blackout
by crazygirlne
Summary: Ficlet in which the Doctor and Rose are in a dark room unexpectedly.


Tumblr prompt from thedoctorlek: Ten x Rose, Museum, Blackout, Umbrella

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"Well," said the Doctor, "that certainly makes this a little more complicated since we can't keep the door open."

Rose tried to see him in the dark museum, but the blackness was absolute in the small room they'd been ready to investigate before the door closed and the light turned off.

"You mean we can't figure out whether there are alien artifacts here when we can't see?" asked Rose, arching her eyebrows at the Doctor, not sure whether he was as blind as she was at the moment.

"It's not impossible," he said, and Rose heard a rustling of cloth. "No, that's not it, no, banana… Ha! Here we are," he finished triumphantly.

Rose jumped as a hand touched her shoulder, relaxing when she recognized the Doctor's touch as he slid his hand along her arm, trying to resist a shiver at the light contact. She felt something hard pressing into her hand.

"Put them on, Rose," the Doctor said eagerly.

Rose used both hands to try to determine what she held and quickly decided it was a pair of glasses. She put them on and was immediately able to see.

Sort of.

Though it was no longer pitch black, the room now appeared to be covered in a kaleidoscope of color. Each object she looked at was extremely bright, and she turned until she could see the Doctor, who was investigating something behind where she'd been facing.

Unable to help herself, Rose started giggling at the sight of the Doctor, focused intently on an orange sphere, his glasses bright pink, his suit purple with green pinstripes.

"What?" he asked, sending her a baffled look.

"The colors," she said, still laughing.

"Oh, right," said the Doctor, looking down at himself and making a face before looking back at Rose. "At least it's not avocado and orange," he added with a pointed look at her previously-pink hoodie and blue jeans.

Rose smiled at him, a hint of tongue peeking out from between her teeth.

"Well, at least I sound edible, with food names for colors," she told him before laughing again.

He swallowed a bit harder than usual.

"True," he said, turning back to the sphere. "This isn't anything that doesn't belong here," he told her.

Rose looked around again, a little dizzy from the overwhelming colors. On the high ceiling, she spotted a bright yellow globe with a pulsing blue button.

"What about that, Doctor?" she asked, and he looked in the direction she pointed.

"That could be something," he told her. "More likely, though, it's just the system that shut down the lights when the door closed." He took a few steps to place himself under it. "Need to press that button," he said, looking around for something to stand on. Not seeing anything immediately, he started rummaging through his pockets again.

"Why did we think there was something here that shouldn't be, again?" asked Rose.

"Doesn't make sense for them to hide the door instead of just putting a sign or a lock on it," he said as he continued to search his pockets.

Rose blinked as he pulled a long umbrella out of an inner pocket. Though she wasn't sure whether the umbrella was typically yellow with a pink handle, she was fairly certain the glasses she wore had nothing to do with the question mark shape at the end.

The Doctor used the tip of the umbrella to press the button, the lights coming on immediately, replacing the umbrella before before removing his glasses. Rose took hers off and handed them to the Doctor.

"That's an unusual umbrella," Rose commented.

"Mmmm," agreed the Doctor. "Used to have question marks everywhere."

The door opened, and Rose and the Doctor spun around to see a security guard holding a communicator to his mouth.

"Nothing to worry about, Pat," said the guard. "It's just another couple who snuck into the janitor's closet for a shag."

Rose looked around again, eyesight no longer inhibited by darkness or strange colors, and she saw what looked suspiciously like a mop and bucket, spare towels, and an assortment of things waiting to be cleaned. She sighed and looked at the Doctor, who was pulling an ear uncomfortably.

"Well," he said, "maybe there are perfectly legitimate reasons to want a room to blend in after all."


End file.
